Anna+Welger

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Chicago had an underground abortion culture populated primarily by doctors and midwives.

In February of 1926, 36-year-old Anna Barg Wilger, or somebody else who wanted to keep her pregnancy from ending in the birth of a living baby, sought out one of those midwives, Theresa Struhala. On February 27, Struhala perpetrated the abortion on Anna in the Wilger home. Anna died there that day.

Struhala was indicted for felony murder in Anna's death.

Prior to legalization, accomplices to abortions were also subject to criminal charges, which could include accessory to murder if the woman died. John Wilger, whose relationship to Anna was not disclosed, was booked as an accomplice, but was later released.



Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see [|Abortion in the 1920s].

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see [|The Bad Old Days of Abortion]

Source:


 * [|Homicide in Chicago Interactive]

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